Former mail carrier sentenced for stealing, failing to deliver mail

Robert Gafford, 34, of Jackson was sentenced to 14 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine by U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Tuesday, Aug. 20, after stealing and failing to deliver mail to customers.

According to a news release from the office of the United States attorney, Gafford delivered mail on a rural route or near Scott City. The release stated the postmaster received complaints from a couple claiming they weren’t receiving their mail and packages on Gafford’s route in 2021.

The couple sent images of their missing mail and the officials found mail that wasn’t delivered to them at the post office, according to the release.

“Frustrated when their mail was still not being delivered, the couple mailed an Apple AirTag tracking device to themselves and traced it to Gafford’s home after it wasn’t delivered, the trial showed,” the release stated. “A special agent with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General then sent a test piece of mail with a tracking device. Investigators watched as Gafford stopped at his personal vehicle before leaving post office property in his mail vehicle that day. They also independently tracked Gafford’s postal vehicle as he skipped the couple’s mailbox.”

After the investigators tracked the test piece back to Gafford’s vehicle, once he left for the day, they pulled him over and found the test as well as the couple’s undelivered mail in the vehicle’s glove box, according to the release.

According to a sentencing memo in the release, Gafford stole mail after the jury’s verdict. The release stated the postmaster placed an AirTag in a package and tracked it back to Gafford’s home after receiving complaints about missing mail from Dalhousie Drive residents in 2024.